


Family is Who You Choose

by sahlo_folina



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics), Grayson (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:47:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27694367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sahlo_folina/pseuds/sahlo_folina
Summary: Sometimes family is related to you. Sometimes it isn’t. But family is always the people you choose.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne
Kudos: 66





	Family is Who You Choose

**“** _ **You’re alive?!**_ **”**

Family is a weird thing. Sometimes the family you’re born into isn’t your real family at all. Sometimes the people that share your blood, the people the world insists are a part of you, couldn’t be farther from family if they tried.

Dick was lucky enough to never have that problem. He had loved his parents unconditionally; they could do no wrong in his young eyes. Sometimes he wondered if that’s why they had been taken from him; if maybe it had been too good to last, maybe he didn’t deserve them. 

Bruce was different. With Bruce there was love, but it was never the pure, selfless love of the Graysons. Bruce was Dick’s father, but sometimes it felt like no two people could be less alike. They had rebuilt over the years, but they never fully healed from the sharp words and cold anger from the past. Bruce pushing him away, taking the title that was so precious to him, that was given by his mother. Dick insisted that he forgave. But he could never quite bring himself to forget.

Alfred was easy to love. He was stoic, but never cold. He welcomed Dick with open arms and never failed to remain a steady, trustworthy support in Dick’s life.

With Jason, things were much harder. A small, shameful part of Dick hated Jason, at the beginning. Jason was the kid who replaced him, both his role in the family and his role as Robin. Jason was the reminder that no matter what Dick did, he still hadn’t been good enough in Bruce’s eyes. But Dick slowly learned to accept him, slowly learned that his anger at Bruce shouldn’t get in the way of what could be a strong relationship with the new Robin. A strong relationship with his _brother_. Then Jason was gone, and then he was back, and they never got around to being best friends, but they managed some semblance of brotherhood. And maybe that was enough.

Tim was one of Dick’s regrets. They had been close; he had been one of Tim’s childhood heroes and Dick admired the kid’s skilled mind, respected his bright-eyed passion. Dick was willing to teach and Tim was overjoyed to learn and they had worked great as partners, had been friends… until Dick suddenly found himself as the guardian of a depressed teenager and a child assassin and he held the burden of a legacy. Two legacies, Bruce Wayne and Batman. He was suddenly nine years old again, and he had just lost his _dad_ and he was scared and he needed someone to lean on… only no one was there. He had to be the adult, had to be the responsible one, and that meant making tough decisions. And as much as it hurt, as much as he hated himself for it, ( _Timmy I’m so sorry please forgive me_ ) he made his choice. He pushed his baby brother away, and it may have been the right thing to do, but he knew they would never be the same again.

Nothing could’ve prepared him for Damian. Dick had thought Jason was tough to get through to, but with Damian it felt almost impossible at the beginning. Dick hadn’t thought such a young person could carry so much bitterness in his heart. Damian had been raised with the sole intent of carrying on a legacy of murder, and Dick didn’t know how he was supposed to counter that. How he was supposed to take this hardened young heart and soften it, how to reveal the sweet child he knew was underneath. But he tried his best. He knew that to earn Damian’s love, he first had to earn Damian’s respect, and Dick thought that making Damian his Robin might be the only way to get close to him.

Sometimes Dick thought Damian was the one good thing he had done in his life. Sometimes Dick felt like he ruined every relationship that mattered to him, accidentally pushed away everyone that he cared about. But, somehow, he managed to earn Damian’s trust, and the fact that this kid, this _child_ , who had been through so much, who carried so much pain, the fact that Damian still thought Dick was worthy… it made Dick feel like for once in his life, he might be good enough. 

They called themselves brothers. Maybe they were something different. Damian had needed a father, and maybe Dick had needed a son. What they were called didn’t matter. What mattered was their love.

Family is a weird thing. Sometimes the family that’s real isn’t the family you’re born into. Sometimes the family that matters most is the people you don’t share blood with.

Sometimes family is related to you. Sometimes it isn’t. But family is always the people you choose.

_“I missed you.”_

_“I know, kiddo. Me too. Me too.”_

_“To see what you’re doing, what you’ve become, I’m nothing but proud.”_

**Author's Note:**

> i posted this like two months ago but it just,,, disappeared from my account for no fucking reason?? anyway it was my most popular work so i didn’t want it to disappear into the Void (thank god i haven’t deleted it from my word document yet)  
>    
> [i have a tumblr!](https://hushlittlewing.tumblr.com/)


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